Thats true, its not fair of me to say most loggers are dishonest, but of the 6 logging outfits that have worked around here, 1 was semi-reputable. Some quick examples:
Neighbours had 100 acres cut, friend of theirs overheard their logger laughing in the barn about how he was fleecing these idiots.
Other neighbour had 40 acres cut and was getting paid per load. They were sneaking loads out when owner not there. Was supposed to be a diameter limit cut, they cut everything including areas flagged to be left.
There was 100 acres cut behind us (there is another discussion about who actually owns the land but thats another thread), they cut our flagged line trees and reached over and cut 60 ft x 3/4 mile of crown (state) land. Reported but enforcement said they do it because you have to prove intent in court to get a charge to stick so as long as the operator says oh I didn't see the blazed line trees they won't get a conviction.
Property behind my neighbour being cut, you have to cut in the stream/buffer zones in winter or reach in with cable skidder, well its on a hill and of course no working brakes in skidder so they bark up all the trees they are supposed to leave in buffer zones instead of leaving bumper trees to be harvested on the way out. Skidder also had oil changed into hollow areas on ground as is traditional here it seems. Woods strewn with hydraulic oil pails where every they broke a hose.
On the flip side, a friend worked for a commercial thinning outfit that did very clean work, very careful not to damage crop trees. Also, a large outfit did some really nice work strip clearcutting behind our place, no oil pails, careful with erosion around streams. My understanding is they will be back in 5-10 years to remove the strips once the standing trees have seeding what they cut already.
